| Carl Jung, Swiss psychologist and contemporary of | | | | mandalas were beneficial in the discovery of one's |
| Sigmund Freud, worked extensively in the area of | | | | Self as they represented visually and artistically one's |
| individuation. Individuation is the process of wholeness | | | | inner Person and true interior identity. Jung mused |
| that occurs when the inner self is progressively | | | | that the mandala could be called the "Archetype of |
| revealed and becomes congruent with the conscious | | | | Wholeness." |
| mind and the outward, active self. One method that | | | | Jung had a daily practice of drawing a simple mandala |
| Jung employed in this process of individuation was | | | | as his way of checking in on the condition of his inner |
| the use of mandalas (mandala is a Sanskrit word | | | | self. He also encouraged this mode of self-expression |
| which means circle). | | | | for others. Since working with mandalas employs the |
| For Jung, mandalas were a symbol of wholeness in | | | | use of our hands and eyes it brings together the |
| which he saw archetypal elements associated with | | | | inner and outer segments of ones being. Through this |
| the use of shapes and colors. That is to say, he | | | | contemplative practice of quieting oneself in the |
| believed there were universal, unconscious elements | | | | drawing or coloring of mandalas, the person is allowed |
| of one's personhood that were associated with the | | | | to express aspects of their own identity through the |
| shapes they might choose to draw or the colors | | | | simple use of shapes, images and colors, often |
| they might choose to make use of in the creation of | | | | resulting in a greater understanding of their own |
| their own personal mandala. He believed that | | | | emotions and desires. |